


The Price of Sins

by Mokisaur



Series: The Cauldwell Legacy [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Angels and Demons, Battle, Death, Gay Male Character, Love, Lovers, M/M, Post Mpreg, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-19
Updated: 2017-02-21
Packaged: 2018-09-25 13:41:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9823079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mokisaur/pseuds/Mokisaur
Summary: Just when Nick and Luci thought they had found some peace in which to raise their son, the Heavenly court discovers their location and dispatches four of its best warriors to put an end to this game of cat and mouse and destroy the blasphemy the two created.Not everything goes as planned for either side.For Nicholas, it is a sudden decent into madness unlike he has ever known.





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> These events happened during RPs spanning a little over two years IRL.  
> Some background:  
> Nicholas is a half demon. Lucious is an angel who, with his two brothers, fell from the Heavenly court's good graces.  
> Nicholas and Lucious have been together over 50 years. Their love runs way deeper than any mortal could possibly understand. Nick has telepathic abilities and has the ability to blood bond, which he did with Lucious. They knew the feeling of each other's very souls, down to the very core.  
> Because angels aren't exactly one gender or another (as we played them), they simply emulate what gender they want to be. Lucious was "male" for as long as Nick knew him. But, when Lucious decided he wanted a child, well... Nick was in for a bit of a surprise. Nine months later, they have a baby boy and everything quickly got out of hand. The offspring of angel and demon, the Nephalem, wasn't supposed to happen. Angels wanted it dead while the demons wanted it for themselves to harness the power hidden inside of the child. It pretty much started a small war, with Nick and Lucious caught in the middle of it.  
> They were constantly on the run, having to mask themselves with magic time and time again and split up from the other brothers so they couldn't be sensed so easily. They ran for five years, raising their son as best they could. Their last place of refuge was Nick's childhood home, a little log cabin out in the middle of the woods, just a bit north and west of what would be New Orleans today. (This is apprx. 250+ years ago, New Orleans was still in it's infancy and most everything north and west was still wilderness.)

Blueberries fell to the scuffed wooden floor, bouncing and rolling in every which direction as the hands that held them suddenly slackened.  
"Daddy?" Asked a small voice from a small boy, his eyes of brilliant soft gold rising from the berries on the floor to his father.  
The two were nearly mirror images of each other with hair like spun silver and eyes so gold they could put the sun to shame. With fair skin and slender figures, little set them apart side from the long locks of the man and the shorter choppy style of the boy - and of course their ages. Sometimes Nicholas would tease that Kelstai was not _their_ son, but rather Lucious's and his alone.  
"Daddy...?" Again, the boy implored with a hint of concern in his voice from the lack of an answer.  
"Go to the bedroom, my sweet." Lucious looked down to his almost-replica, beaming a smile that put Kelstai at ease.  
He knelt down and pulled his son into a tight embrace and kissed his brow when he pulled the boy back. Only after collecting a few of the blueberries from the floor did Kelstai scamper away to the bedroom, and only after he heard the door shut did Lucious allow the grim expression to show. The mess on the floor was left as he walked briskly from the kitchen, around the corner and then out the front door where Nicholas already stood waiting looking equally dark in the face.  
"One of your brothers?" Nick asked.  
Lucious nodded.  
Nicholas already had a face built for somber and solemn expressions; high cheeks, somewhat long jaw, and hooded eyes that were a stormy blue. His warm chestnut hair was in need of a trim and a few strands fell into his vision as he turned his gaze to the mid-morning sky.  
"Shit."  
Lucious could see the tension as Nick set his jaw and reached out to snatch his hand. As always, it was chilly as though he'd been out on a cool autumn day which was always a stark contrast to his own abundance of warmth. Yet, it was a chill he had grown to love and now more than ever he wanted to make sure Nick knew it - _felt_ it. The tension released from his jaw as he unclenched it and threaded his fingers between the slender ones of his lover.  
"This is it, isn't it? We don't have enough time if it's so urgent that one of them must come in person. There is nowhere left to run..."  
As he spoke, his voice hitched with emotion and he trailed off in fear of falling to tears before anything had even happen. Nick gave his hand a squeeze, then shifted to look him straight in the eyes.  
"We do not run anymore." His voice grew stern with conviction. "We fight."  
"But Kelstai, if we... they--"  
"They will spill our blood before they get to him, and I will call upon the all the fury of Hell before they shed a single drop." Lucious knew he would, too. As much as he could hear it in his voice, he could feel the overpowering emotion as though it were his own. "And even then, they will not find him." Perplexed, Lucious was about to as what exactly he meant by that when the faint beat of wings was heard and he turned his gaze towards the horizon where something - someone - was heading straight for them. Nicholas released his lover's hand only to move his to the back of his skull where he drew him in for a deep and lingering kiss as the sound of the wings grew stronger. He explored his mouth and savored the taste of his tongue as though he hadn't done the same millions of times before. Lucious melted into him as he always did, hands against Nick's chest, fingers mapping out every dip and bump through the soft fabric of his tunic as though he didn't already have his body memorized. Both wanted more if only to have more time with each other as the same thing was on both their minds but kept secret from each other; it could be the last time.  
Nicholas tore himself away and pressed his forehead to Lucious's and for a moment they simply shared breaths. When he felt the wind those wings gave off and their noise was deafening in the otherwise quiet surrounding, Nick finally pulled himself free and sharply turned to head inside.  
"Get your sword ready. I'll talk to Kelstai."  
Then he was through the door, and the someone attached to those wings landed with a few quick steps from the momentum. Gray speckled wings longer than the man was tall folded behind him and he pushed back black hair from his face to fall about his shoulders. Golden eyes met golden eyes.  
"Benny..." Lucious didn't even know what to say. Normally seeing his brothers again was such a joyous occasion. Now it was foreboding.  
"Luci, it's time. Tristan used himself as a diversion but it won't last long."  
His eyes grew wide and his heart sank. Never had they been taken by such surprise.  
"Theres no time for that, Lucious. Go, get ready!" Ben practically barked.  
Snapping out of his state of dread, Lucious spun on the ball of his foot and fled into the house.  
  
Nicholas pinched the bridge of his nose while listening to the hysterical rant Lucious was currently making in the most dramatic way possible. Crying and shouting and pacing and being generally unhelpful and unproductive, not responding to any of his methods of calming him down. Worse, though, was how scared he was making their son who was already scared enough from what was happening.  
"Please forgive Papa for what you are about to see." Nick said quietly while smiling apologetically.  
On long legs he rose from kneeling, storming over a few steps where Lucious paced the floor and grabbed him by the shoulders to slam his back against the wall. Immediately his hand came hard against his cheek, jerking the man's head to the side with it and silencing him. From behind, Kelstai gasped softly, yet Nick did not yield. His hand raised again, palm still tingling from the first slap, but Lucious reached up to take his wrist and pulled it forward to kiss. Sighing with relief, Nicholas leaned in and tenderly brushed his lips against the reddened cheek he had just assaulted. The apology was unspoken on both sides, but it was there as clearly as the day was bright.  
"Say your goodbyes," Nick whispered while his lips still hovered above his cheek. "Just in case. And then _get ready._ "  
He felt the tremendous ache deep within Lucious as though it were his own and in truth it was. It took every ounce of courage he had to keep himself from falling apart and turning into the hysterical storm he'd just managed to quell. Swallowing hard, Nick moved aside to let Lucious by and returned to the bag on the bed he'd been haphazardly packing before his son demanded his attention. Now it was Lucious who knelt before the boy and Nick did his best to focus on his task on hand.  
"Oh my sweet, precious boy." Lucious cooed out while pulling Kelstai into his arms, hugging him tight with the fear of never doing it again. "I love you so much. You are my miracle."  
As his father cried over his shoulder, Kelstai wrapped his little arms around his neck and squeezed tight.  
"Then why must I go?" His small voice squeaked out, in tears himself.  
"Because it is not safe here anymore, my darling. Papa is going to take you somewhere safe to stay until we make it safe here again. You understand?" He leaned back and thumbed away the tears from his son's cheeks as he nodded. "Good. You are so brave. And I love you so much, Kelstai. I love you more than anything in this world."  
"Even more than Papa?"  
"Especially more than Papa." Nicholas interjected with a smirk.  
For a fraction of a moment, the mood was lifted enough that they all three could smile about that. It ended abruptly with the sound of Ben's voice rising from outside.  
"Lucious!"  
Within a few seconds Nick had the straps of the pack secured on Kelstai's shoulders and the boy hoisted in his arms. Lucious grabbed them both and first littered Kelstai's face with kisses, then took one more from Nick's lips. Neither wanted to part, but both ripped themselves away and spun around to race off in opposite directions; Nicholas out the back door connected to the bedroom and Lucious back towards the front, pausing only to grab his sword off the mount on the wall.  
  
Generally, Nick wasn't a runner. He kept himself in peak physical condition but it leaned more towards physical strength rather than speed. As he sprinted as fast as his legs could take him, he was thanking whatever might be listening for blessing him with such long legs that ate away at the distance. The forest both he and Kelstai knew by heart from the many foraging and tracking trips and not a single misstep was had. A thunderous boom in the direction they'd fled from shook the very earth and caused him to stumble slightly, yet he didn't stop. Even as the sound of holy blades rang as clear as crystal bells and the shouting of voices belonging to those he loved were heard, he didn't stop. Even as tears blurred his vision and his heart felt like it might explode or simply break, Nicholas kept running. Two figures flanked him on either side, and soon sped up to match his speed; Two large wolves that were tall enough to reach his hip. Both then ran ahead and he followed their lead ever deeper into the woods. Howls echoed back and forth as they passed hidden sentries, and within minutes the entire pack was rushing forward to meet them. Both parties came to a stop rater suddenly if only to prevent colliding with one another. Despite how hard he pushed himself, Nick was barely winded as he dropped to his knees to stand Kelstai before him who looked at his father with shock and disbelief. Not because of the pack of twenty some-odd pony-sized wolves surrounding them, but because he had never seen his father cry like this. He had never felt him hurt like this. The little boy flung himself against Nick, hugging him as tight as his little arms could while Nick had to restrain from crushing him from how hard he wanted to hug him.  
"You are the best thing in the world that has ever happened to me, Kelstai." The man said, muffled against his son's hair. "I will come back to you, I promise."  
"Papa, please don't go! I'm scared!" Kelstai cried out into his father's shoulder and it took every fiber of Nick's being to actually pull the child off of him.  
"I know, son. I'm scared, too. I have to go help Daddy and his brothers make the bad people go away so we can be a family again. And you have to be very brave and go with the wolves so they can hide you."  
Getting back to his feet, he carried Kelstai towards the largest of the already large beasts that was shades of brown and cream and soft amber eyes. Neither man or wolf showed a hint of fear towards one another. The large beast even lowered his head while Nicholas placed Kelstai onto his back, then fashioned a type of harness from a couple of belts from the pack to keep the boy secured.  
"Hold on tight to his neck fur." Nick placed the child's hands onto the wolf's scruff and had him grab the thick fur and extra skin. Below him the wolf shifted a bit, but didn't even rumble a complaint. "I swear to you I will come back." Their tearful gazes met, and Kelstai nodded while his lower lip trembled.  
It was a promise he didn't know that he could keep. And for that he had no choice but to resort to an extra method of protection, one that hurt his heart to have to do. Nicholas leaned down to press his lips against his son's silvery head and breathed out shakily.  
"I love you." It was barely managed around the lump in his throat, and the foreign words that followed were even harder. Words that even the wolves were uneasy about. Words of magic that seeped deep within his son and had the child momentarily frozen. All of his memories save the utmost basic instincts and speech were locked away to a deep recess of the child's mind, and following that the very essence of what he was vanished under intricate spell-woven layers of concealment. When the last word was spoken, not even Nick could feel his own flesh and blood as he could the minds of all those around him. He could not recognize the essence he now gave off, it being no more unique than any other human he'd met in his life. Unless it was a God with powers far beyond his own and spells even more potent, Kelstai was now indistinguishable from the mundane.  
The wolf raised his head and craned a look back to the child who was still dazed. Nick tightened the boys grip on the scruff, and then the pack was racing away. It would be a few seconds still before the boy came back to his senses. By then, they'd be out of sight. Nicholas made sure of that by forcing himself to turn around and run back towards the fray. 


	2. Part 2

There wasn't a second to spare upon returning, no time to think about what he'd just done or even what was ahead. Nicholas darted back into the cabin from the back and grabbed his own blade, letting the sheath clatter to the floor as he ran and burst through the front door to the battle. No thinking, he simply acted and moved. Ben was exchanging blows with one of the faceless warriors and being pushed back. Tristan had now joined, the eldest of the three brothers and the one Nick actually got along with. His dyed hair was a shock of bright red, longer even than how Lucious kept his but pulled back in a braid that was starting to unravel. Inside, Nick was quite thankful to have Tristan with them as the man was a force to be reckoned with. He towered over Nicholas, who was already usually the tallest in a room with a strong and solid physique and knowledge of spellweaving and other magics that put Nick's own to shame. That was especially useful currently; after Tristan deflected a warrior's swinging sword, he used the spare few seconds to throw a ball of energy at the one attacking Ben which knocked it off balance. Instantly Ben had the upper hand and plunged his sword into the Angel's heart. In the blink of an eye, Nicholas flew in like a leaf dancing in the wind and swiped his blade with the momentum of his body through the creature's neck and watched for a moment as the head rolled away from the body now sliding limp off Ben's sword.  
Another Angel fell under Nick's conjured Hellfire and Tristan's blade. With two left, Nick and Lucious both started to feel the tables turn in their favor, yet not with ease. The lot of them were bleeding from various lacerations and most likely had a few broken fingers from momentary hand-to-hand. Ben and Lucious danced around one while Nicholas and Tristan took the other and took turns feinting attacks, parrying blows and striking at openings the other created. Tristan slipped in close to the Angel and slammed his head down against the warrior's and it stumbled backwards where Nick waited to slice his long blade along the backs of it's knees and they buckled. Tristan sent it's head flying before the body even hit the ground.  
And then, it happened.  
From the far corner of his vision, he saw Ben skidding across the ground. Time instantly seemed to slow as he turned his body and gaze towards where he'd been flung from to witness the Angel's blade already buried into Lucious's chest, then pierce through his back. In the same location, pain blossomed like a flower greeting the sun and yet it instantly went numb. In fact, everything had gone numb. Vision became tunneled and the sounds around him suddenly became muffled, including his own scream. Nick was running, feeling like his legs were caught in molasses as his mind raced far faster than his body could ever hope to. From behind him, a blinding light streaked by and crashed into and through the warrior holding the sword in Lucious's chest, leaving a huge gaping hole where it's chest had been. As it's grip left the handle, Lucious began to fall backwards, long silver strands seemingly floating around his face at the sudden change in direction. Nick's arms reached out while his heels slammed into the earth to bring him to a stop. Cradling his lover in his arms, Nicholas sank to his knees and just stared in horror as the blood seeped rapidly around the blade. There was no spell, no magic, no curse or power of Hell that could heal him from from a fatal blow of a blade from the Heavenly court. Worse, being blessed by the Angel of death meant his soul had no chance for redemption and would simply... fade away.  
"No... no no no no no... not like this, Lucious!" His voice was a bit raw.  
Tears spilled freely into the pool of blood on his chest. The pain was so strong, but it wasn't physical. Through the bond they shared, Nick could feel his life slipping away like it was his own. He wished it were his own. Ben had come to one side at some point, cursing and crying angry tears. Tristan returned from inspecting the warrior he'd put a hole in, his golden eyes like fire, yet his expression like stone. Weak and shaky, Lucious attempted to raise his hand to Nick's cheek and he grabbed it to press it there and nuzzle into it.  
"Quiet now... my love..." Lucious barely managed to whisper out, struggling to get air with a pierced lung. His bloodied lips smile despite the pain.  
"Lucious... I can't..." It hurt too much to even speak.  
Lucious moved his lips, but no words could come forth. In panicked desperation, Nicholas dove into his head to entwine their consciousness where words weren't needed. He held it there as hard as he could, wishing he could simply pause time and stay there with him forever. But, he couldn't, so he savored every last second.  
"Farewell, brother. May your soul find peace." Tristan's baritone voice was quiet as he took hold of the sword and pulled it free from his brother's chest.  
Blood now gushed, pumping more out with every weakening beat of his severed heart. Still, Nick stayed with him, refusing to let go of the last shreds of his consciousness despite knowing the dangers. His heart gave one last beat, then stopped. The last sliver of light within faded, and then there was nothing but darkness.  
Nicholas screamed until his throat was bloody. He screamed out his despair and pain and a piece of his sanity. He screamed until he couldn't scream anymore.  
Tristan simply stood there and placed a hand on Nick's shoulder, squeezing it with reassuring pressure. As usual the face of the eldest was unreadable, but within his eyes the emotion burned as bright as Holy Fire. Ben was now on the ground with a hand over his face to hide his own tears and anger.  
Limp and bloody, Nick clutched his lover's body against his own, sobbing against him and rocking. He was so cold. Lucious was not supposed to be cold. He was warmth and light. Now he is nothing.  
Tristan withdrew his hand from Nick's shoulder and crossed the short distance over to Ben who looked up to him with a tear and blood stained face. Silently his brother offered a hand down and helped to pull him up to his feet, and then into a strong embrace. He was given a few minutes, Tristan gently shushing his sobs.  
"Come, Benedict." His voice was a low rumble. "We have a grave to prepare."  
Ben pressed his head hard against his brother's chest and inhaled a deep breath to steady himself before he pushed away and nodded.  
The two gave their brother cradled in Nick's arms a final look, then turned to leave the man alone in his grief - one neither of them could possibly fathom and both knew would take a while to calm down from.


End file.
